


Sunday Brunch

by lizandletdie



Series: Bellissima [3]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Ficlet, surprise proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-22
Updated: 2018-09-22
Packaged: 2019-07-15 18:42:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16069010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizandletdie/pseuds/lizandletdie
Summary: Prompt fill ficlet. Ishtarelisheba wanted to see a Bellissima proposal, and I was more than happy to oblige.





	Sunday Brunch

The year went by so fast that Cyril had completely lost track of Belle’s lease being up until the superintendent of her building informed him she was now month-to-month. They’d been dating for the better part of that lease and now he was going to have to figure out how to present his girlfriend with a lease, or if he should just pretend like he’d completely forgotten about it. Either could work, really. He’d never dated a tenant before, and there weren’t really rules about this sort of thing that he was aware of.

So, in lieu of a better idea, he did nothing. He was technically giving her special treatment since they were dating, but the alternative was actually actively telling his girlfriend that he needed her to sign a legal document tying her to him for another year.

It only took about six weeks before she asked about it, which he probably should have seen coming – she always had been smart, dammit.

“I don’t mean to nag, but have you gotten around to doing my new lease yet?”

They were having brunch at his house on a random, not important at all Saturday and he almost choked on his eggs. He’d definitely done absolutely nothing to prepare for her lease to be renewed, and there was nothing he could do now but lie. “Absolutely. Sorry, it’s at my office. I just keep forgetting to bring it by.

It wasn’t entirely a lie, it was literally just a standard form for everyone in her building and all he had to do was insert her name and apartment number. Which he had not done.

“That’s good. It’s no rush, but I don’t plan on moving this year or anything, so…”

She shrugged and went back to her toast and he was sure there was more to that joke than she’d let on.

“Well, that’s good. It’s impossible to find good tenants, and you’re my favorite.”

“I’d hope so. Especially after what we did last night, I’d hate to see what you do if I _wasn’t_ your favorite.”

“Touche. To be fair, though, you spend so much time here you may actually have squatter’s rights which would make it a little awkward to try to fit in a second girlfriend.”

“I hadn’t thought about it like that. If I have squatter’s rights that _would_ save me quite a bit in rent…”

Was that a hint? If it was a hint, he’d definitely caught it but it was a weird hint to drop. Did she want to move in? Did she want him to ask her to move in? Did she want him to lower her rent? Or was it just a joke and she had no ulterior motive whatsoever?

He’d been quiet for too long to be able to fit in another tease without it coming off really awkward, and she had gone back to eating her food so what the hell was he supposed to do?

“You could…” oh damn, he was doing it. He was doing it. He’d started and now he had to keep going because she was looking _right_ at him. “You could just move in here. You know, if you want to.”

“Oh, you’re so sweet.” She set her fork down and he knew immediately he’d messed up. She was about to say no, because she’d been joking and he had made it weird.

“Don’t worry about it. I was just…” There was no graceful exit for this. He felt lightheaded in embarrassment and couldn’t even look at her.

“No, hold on. Let me finish. I’d love to move in, but I can’t.”

“I’m pretty sure your landlord will waive the sixty days notice.”

“It’s not about that, I just really don’t want to move in with somebody unless there’s some kind of commitment, you know? Otherwise it just has the potential to get super weird when you break up and all that so, while I totally wouldn’t mind moving in with you in theory I just don’t want to do it until we’re ready to like...go forward.”

“Okay.” He hadn’t even thought before saying it, but he couldn’t un-say it and unfortunately had not said it like _okay I can totally wait until we’re there_ and instead had said it firmly enough that it actually sounded more like _okay let’s get married then_. Which was…

“Okay what?”

She sounded a little shocked, a little wary, and a little hopeful and, damn him, he knew exactly what it was he’d meant. “Okay, let’s get married then.”

“You’re kidding.”

“No, I mean it. Let’s get married.”

“Right now?”

“I’m pretty sure the courthouse isn’t open until tomorrow and there’s at least some paperwork that would have to be completed so not right this exact minute, but maybe after planning a wedding?”

“Did you even plan this?”

“Does that matter?”

“I don’t want to get engaged because of a stupid joke.”

“It’s not a joke.” He reached out and took her hand across the table. “No, I wasn’t planning to propose today, but honestly it just hadn’t occurred to me you’d even be interested in it yet. If it had, I’d have the whole thing ready. You don’t _have_ to say yes, just remember that it’s on the table.”

She looked at him for a little bit, and then smiled and nodded a little. “Okay then.”

He was still trying to parse her meaning when she stood up and he suddenly felt panic set in. Oh that wasn’t good. That was absolutely not a good sign.

“Wait, where are you going?”

“I’m going to get dressed.” He was on the verge of chasing after her when she stopped in the doorway and turned to look at him. “Aren’t you coming?”

“Absolutely. But where are we going?”

“We’re going ring shopping, because if we’re going to be engaged then we’re doing it right.”

He couldn’t keep the relief off his face, but he felt like he was probably hallucinating and maybe he should have checked the expiration date on the juice, but on the off chance that this was really happening he was just going to run with it.

“Sweetheart, they’re not going to open until noon today. Can we at least finish brunch?”

“But if we do that then I’m going to have to postpone all the post-engagement sex we’ll be having until _after_ shopping.”

She said it so sweetly that it took him just a split second to realize exactly what she’d said, but that was _definitely_ enough incentive for him to abandon the eggs benedict on the table and follow her up the stairs to his bedroom. Thank goodness for whoever invented proposing.


End file.
